Nailing machine



April 8, 1958 G. E. ,BRQWNING NAILING MACHINE Filed July 12. 1954 INVENTOR naw/[. rown/) W. a if ATTORN EY United States Patent Ofiiice NAILING MACHINE Grant E. Browning, Muskegon, Mich. Application July 12, 1954, Serial No. 442,643

4 Claims. (Cl. 1-10) This invention relates-to the construction of nailing machines; and in its preferred form, provides a unitwhich may be mounted in groups on a fixture designed to assemble particular boxes, crates, or other such items in quantity. The arrangement of such a group of nailing machines on the assembly fixture corresponds ordinarily to the pattern of the nails which are to be driven, so that a single operation of the machine will result in driving home the entire pattern at one time, or at least a substantial portion of it. Essentially, each of these units includes a driving plunger and a mechanism for feeding each nail into driving position. Ordinarily, each unit will be supplied With nails by a conduit leading from a hopper or other automatic supplying device. For maximum ethciency of operation, it is customary to supply nails to such a driving machine slightly ahead of the instant at which the nail is to be driven. The presence of a time delay involved in the transit of each nail from the supply hopper over to the machine makes it most desirable that the actual feed of the nail into driving position be controlled at a point as near as possible to the driving position. Further, it is desirable that the nail be handled immediately prior to driving by the driving mechanism itself to avoid the necessity of accurately synchronizing the driving mechanism with the supply hopper.

In the preferredform of this invention, a plunger is slideably mounted in the body portion or frame of the machine, and the nails proceed through a passageway disposed beside the plunger, the passageway being preferably formed with a portion communicating with the.

plunger guideway so that a member on the plunger may traverse-the passageway and apply forces to the nails to feed them into driving position. At each stroke of the unit,-a nail is driven from a driving'chamber, and a succeeding nail is moved into position where it can drop into the driving chamber on the return of the plunger to normal or inactive position. A yieldable abutment is provided in the passageway to temporarily halt the movement of the nail out of the supply tube at a position where the plunger can grasp the head for proper operation. A second yieldable abutment is positioned further along the passageway just prior to the position'where anail would drop into the driving chamber, in order to assure that it does so rather than return with the plunger (in the event that the unit happened to be oriented in a direction so that. the nails were not moved with the help of gravity). Another feature of the preferred form. of the invention involves a magnet which urges the nail into proper driving position as it is moved axially into position to enter the. driving chamber. Such movement into thedriving chamber involves a lateral shift which has been found .to be elfectively controllable through the use of a magnet, although aleaf spring or other such arrangement is a practical alternative.

The several features of v i this invention, and the mechanicatamaran the preferred form-of it, will be discussed further thiough an' analysis of the particular embodiment broken away to show the interior construction, on some- What enlarged scale.

Figure 3 is a section taken of the plane 3'--,-3 of Figure 1, on a somewhat enlarged scale.

Referring to Figure 1, the nail 10 is shown in a fully driven position in the board .11. The plunger 12 has returned to its normal initial position in Figure 1, and

is prepared to drive a succeeding nail 13 on a subsequent operation. The actuation of the plunger 12 may involve the use of any convenient arrangement such as a heavy solenoid, air pressure, or other conventional source of energy.

At the next stroke of be driven from its position in the driving chamber 14 through the funnel-shaped opening 15 provided by theexpansible closure blocks 16 and 17 (refer to Figure 3 During the early stages of the stroke of the piston 12 the point of the nail finds its, Way into the guiding opening 18, which is positioned relative to the wall 19 of the chamber to establish the desired orientation of the nails as they are driven. As the head of the nail passes through the expansible closure at the end of chamber 14, the

blocks 16 and 17 move laterally against the action of thesprings 20 through 23, inclusive. The blocks24 and 25 are formed in a substantially U-shaped figuration, with the arms of each of them-forming a guideway for the respective closureblock which the guidewayblocks cmbrace. An end plate 26, together with the guide blocks 24 and 25 is secured to the body portion 27 by screws 28 through 31. I

During the next actuation of the plunger 12, the end 32 of the plunger will move through the driving chamber 14 and through the opening 33 of the end 'plate 2 6 so that the head is flush with the surface of the board 11. Such movement of the plunger will also carry with it, and for the same length of stroke, the shoulder 34, and the movement of this shoulder will carry the nail 35 down through the passageway 36 axially along to a position where the head of the nail 35 is pushed under and beyond the yieldable abutment 37, so that the return of the plunger to the illustrated position will permit the nail 35 to then drop into the position corresponding to that; of nail 13 in Figure l. The yieldable abutment 38.re-

tains the nail 35 in the illustrated position against accidental movement further along the passageway 36 to where it might interfere with the driving of nail 13. Nails supplied through the inlet conduit 39 by an automatic supply system move into the position of the nail 35 ordinarily under the operation of gravity. The passageway 36 should preferably be so formed that the head:

of the nail 35 cannot escape from the shoulder 34; and

correspondingly the plunger 12 is shown flattened opposite the area where the nail 35 is carried,the fiat being defined by a plane substantially parallel to the axis of the plunger, and positioned to form the shoulder v 34 at the intersection with a transverse plane.

A simple manner of forming the yieldable abutments 37 and 38 is indicated in Figure 1, and involves thespringj strip 40 which rests in a groove in the bodyportion 27,--- a formed area 41 in the spring strip registering-with -a;- bore 42 to properly locate the strip along the groove. 'Cut" out areas 43 and 44 are provided to establish freedom? of movement of the abutment portions 37 and 38 of the spring. A cover plate 45 is secured to the body portion 27 by screws as indicated at 46 and 47 in Figure 1, plate I Patented Apr. 8,1958

the plunger 12, the nail 13 will.

45 serving to hold the spring strip 40 in proper operating position.

The normal or inactive position of the plunger 12 shown in Figure l is established by the presence of the spring 48 positioned ina bore 49, this bore communicatingwith the guideway of the plunger 12 to provide for the movement of the lug 50 secured to the plunger, during the reciprocating movement thereof. This communicating opening which unites the bore occupied by the spring 48 with the plunger guideway, may be machined with the use of a broach,or maybe milled through a cut proceeding from the outer surface 51 of the body portion. It is also practical to form'the entire body portion 27 as a die-cast unit, in which the problem of machining interior passageways will ordinarily not arise. In addition to acting as the means for transfering forces from the spring 48 to the plunger 12, the lug 50 acts as a stop against the cover plate 52 This cover is held in position through the action of screws as indicated at 53, S4, and 55, and this arrangement results in an assembly operation which is obviously very simple.

In the illustrated form of the invention, the nail 13 is urged laterally into the illustrated driving position in the chamber 14, through the action of the magnet 56 which is mounted in a non-ferrous insert 57 mounted in the body 21 in the unit. lreferably, another non-ferrous insert 58 is disposed between the poles 59'and 60 of the magnet to provide a uniform surface conforming to the wall 19 of the driving chamber. The action of the magnet 56 establishes a field of magnetic flux extending from the wall 19 of the driving chamber into the chamber, tending to attract the iron or steel nails into the position illustrated.

These units may be arranged in large number in a desired pattern on a fixture designed to assemble a crate, for example, with an independent driving unit ordinarily associated with each plunger 12 Operation of a master control will energize each one of these units, and the entire group of nails will be driven approximately the same instant. These nailing units are preferably provided with flanges 61 and 62 to secure them to the frame work of the assembly fixture, and the very small amount of lateral movement of the nails involved in the feeding operation makes it possible for the cross sectional dimensions of the unit to be small enough to permit rather close nail spacing.

The particular embodiments of the present invention which have been illustrated and discussed herein are for illustrative purposes only, and are not to be considered as a limitation upon the scope of the appended claims.

In these claims, it is my intent to claim the entire invention disclQSd herein, except as I am limited bythe p iqr rt.- I

I claim:

1. A mailing machine adapted to drive nails. of particular lengths, comprising: means forming a chamber hav' ing a cross-section formed to pass said nails axially, including the heads thereof, said chamber having a length in excess of the length of one of said nails; a plunger slideably mounted with respect to said chamber, said plunger having a portion thereof disposed to reciprocate in said chamber throughout a substantial portion of the length thereof; means forming a passageway communicating with said chamber and disposed beside said plunger and having a cross-section formed to pass said nails axially, said plunger having a shoulder axially removed from the end of said plunger portion which iswithinsaid chamber, said shoulder being disposed to traverse said passageway during reciprocation of said plunger; biasing means urging said plunger along its axis in retracting direction; stop means limiting the movement of said plunger under the action of said biasing means, said stop meansdetermining a position of said plunger wherein said chamber is capable of receiving a nail without obstruction from said plunger; magnet means fixed with 4 respect to said chamber means and disposed to establish a field of magnetic flux extending between poles on one side of said chamber and into said chamber; first resilient abutment means disposed to restrain the movement of nails into said passageway at a point where the heads thereof may engage said shoulder; second resilient abutment means disposed along said passageway a distance from the normal position from said shoulder less than the stroke of said plunger, and beyond the normal position of the end of the portion of said plunger in said chamber; and inlet means for guiding nails into said passageway at the opposite end thereof from said chamher.

2. A nailing machine adapted to drive nails of particular iengths, comprising: means forming a chamber having a cross-section formed to pass said nails axially, including the heads thereof, said chamber having a length in excess of the length of one of said nails; a plunger slideably mounted with respect to said chamber, said plunger having a portion thereof disposed to reciprocate in said chamber throughout a substantial portion of the length thereof; means forming a passageway communicating with said chamber and disposed beside said plunger and having a cross-section formed to'pass said nails axially, said plunger having a shoulder axially removed from the end of said plunger portion which is within said chamber, said shoulder being disposed to traverse said passageway during the reciprocation of said plunger; biasing means urging said plunger along its axis in retracting direction; stop means limiting the movement of said plunger under the action of said biasing means, said stop means'determining a position of said plunger wherein said chamber is capable of receiving a nail without obstruction from said plunger; first resilient abutment means disposed to restrain the movement of nails into said passageway at a point where the headsthereof may engage said shoulder; second resilient abutment means disposed along said passageway a distance from the nor-. mal position from said shoulder, and beyond the normal position of the end of the portion of said plunger in said chamber; and inlet means for guiding nails into said passageway at the opposite end thereof from said chamber. i

3. A nailing machine adapted to drive nails of particular lengths, comprising: means forming a chamber having a cross-section formed to pass said nails axially, including the heads thereof, said chamber having a length in excess of the length of one of said nails; :1 plunger slideably mounted with respect to said chamber, said plunger having a portion thereof disposed to reciprocate in said chamber throughout a substantial portion of the length thereof; means forming a passageway communicating with said chamber and disposed beside said plunger and having a cross-section formed to pass said nails axially, said plunger having a shoulder axially removed from the end of said plunger portion which is within said chamber, said shoulder being disposed to traverse said passageway during reciprocation of said, plunger; first resilient abutment means disposed to restrain the movement of nails into said passageway at a point where the heads thereof may engage said shoulder; second resilient abutment means disposed along said passageway a distance from the normal position from said shoulder, and beyond the normal position of the end of the portion of said plunger in said chamber; and inlet means for guilding nails into said passageway at the opposite end thereoffrom said chamber.

4. A nailing machine adapted to drive nails of particular lengths, comprising: means forming a chamber having a cross-section formed to pass said nails axially, including the heads thereof, said chamber having a length in excess of the length of one of said nails; 2. plunger slideably mounted with respect to said chamber, said plunger having a portion thereof disposed to reciprocate in said chamber throughout a substantial portion of the length thereof; means forming a passageway communicating nails into said passageway at the opposite end thereof with said chamber and disposed beside said plunger and from said chamber.

having a cross-section formed to pass said nails axially,

said plunger having a shoulder axially removed from the References Cited in the file of this patent end of said plunger portion which is Within said chamber, 5

and said shoulder being disposed to traverse said passage- UNITED STATES PATENTS Way during reciprocation of said plunger; resilient abut- 544,226 Higham Aug. 6, 1895 ment means disposed to restrain the movement of nails 1,845,186 Raeburn Feb. 16, 1932 into said passageway at a point where the heads thereof 2,088,761 Roberts Aug. 3, 1937 may engage said shoulder; and inlet means for guiding 10 2,420,830 Maynard May 20, 1949 

